Ethics [Thursday, January 27, 2011, first period]

[sith_happened]

"I know that Blackagar and his friend covered lying when they took over during my absense," Anakin said with a little nod toward his TA, "but today I wished to revisit it with a Fandom slant. Here, where multiple timelines meet and mingle, lying can be a terribly complex subject."

He gazed around the room. "We have students here from different centuries who by stepping foot onto the island learn immediately about electricity, electronics and reality television. Depending on societies they arrive from, they could learn about guns--or even the very concept of war--and change their worlds irrevocably."

Anakin began pacing. "Sometimes the situation is even more specific. Several years ago, a student arrived here who I knew--but I knew him as a Jedi Master I'd met when I was a small child. I also knew that his death, at least in my timeline, had been a violent one. A teacher I had used to say that the future is constantly in motion, but my experience with multiple timelines seems to show that certain large events tend to stay constant. Did I have an obligation to tell this student about his future? Or do I respect his timeline and his ability to make his own decisions?"

He sat back down. "The questions today are these: if you have knowledge of the future, what parts would you lie about--even through omission--from someone further behind in the timeline? And if you met someone from your future, would you want to know anything about what you might face someday? Would you respect them for not telling you everything? Or even anything?"

Comments

Sign in [1/27]

[sith_happened]

Like someone just told you about your future!

Re: Sign in [1/27]

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

Katniss Everdeen

Re: Sign in [1/27]

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter Bishop

Listen to the lecture [1/27]

[sith_happened]

And revel in the warmth of the heaters working. Mmm, heat.

Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

"If you have knowledge of the future, what parts would you lie about--even through omission--to someone further behind in the timeline? And if you met someone from your future, would you want to know anything about what you might face someday? Would you respect them for not telling you everything? Or even anything?"

So just a few questions, today.

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I could tell them anything. And I don't think I'd want to know anything, either," Katniss said thoughtfully. "It alters everything once you know."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "It was quite a shock when I met my granddaughter, if only because I reacted badly to who my daughter would eventually matter."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Technically you can't change the past," Peter said. "Temporality doesn't work like that. If you alter the past, you alter the present, cause and effect goes out of whack. So if you tell someone about the future, depending on your own interpretation of time theory, you're either going to make them cause those events to happen, or you're just creating a new spin-off reality where different things happen. Which may or may not be better. It's pretty damn ballsy to go in and change a universe because you think you know better. I mean, I'm not even sure I could do that. That's super-villain level egomaniac behavior."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

Anakin's eyebrow rose. "You've spent a great deal of time studying temporal effects?" he asked evenly.

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[mathletenomore.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if I could tell them anything," Lindsay said after a few moments of thought. "I don't want to know what's going on with people I care about in this time. One reason is so I'm not tempted to alter the future by telling them about it."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "So you're from the past, then? How far back?"

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Why aren't you supposed to tell them?" Quinn asked, displaying her imperfect grasp of things like 'listening to the lecture.'

"I can see not telling them awesome stuff if you don't want to ruin the surprise. That's sweet, sort of. But if it's a sad thing, I think you should tell so they can change it or be prepared. If they can't change something, telling them won't change it anyhow, right?"

"I," she added, "would be crazy annoyed if I knew someone knew everything that'll happen to me and was just being too big a wuss to give me the 411."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

"Would you tell them lottery numbers and who won the World Series?" Anakin asked with a little smile.

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[littlelionlad.livejournal.com]

"If I had knowledge of the future, I think I would try to lie about it, but if I knew that someone was going to die, I don't know if I'd be able to keep that from them. I'm not very good at lying," Anduin said. "If someone knew my future...I would be genuinely torn. I'd respect them for keeping silent, but on the other hand, there would always be a part of me that would wish I knew the future instead."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "That's a very normal response," he said. "We always want to peak at the gifts under the tree, or skip to the end of the story. And then we feel guilty for wanting to."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[lordofthecats.livejournal.com]

"If II met someone from my past, I wouldn't tell them about my planet's destruction. It's not something I would want them to worry about in advance," Lion-o decided. "But if I met someone from my future, I'm not sure I would want them to tell me anything. I mean, I'd like to know that my people would survive and prosper on their new planets, but I wouldn't want to know if they did not make it."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

"So tell the good news and keep the bad to yourself?" Anakin asked.

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[heromaniac]

"It's actually happening to me now!" Momoko lamented, her head in her hands. "I have friends from different worlds that are the same world only not exactly, and they're each from different times! I didn't know, though, since it's not my world, and I already accidentally told one friend some stuff and he's upset, and another told me not to tell him... And I can't tell my other friend anymore, because now there's someone from her future and she doesn't want to know anything either."

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[sith_happened]

"It's a uniquely Fandom headache," Anakin said sympathetically. "I have relatives here for three different places in the timeline, and for the most part we have just agreed not to ask. Do you find it hard to keep things to yourself?"

Re: Answer the discussion questions [1/27]

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa was fingering her rings again.

"I ... I feel like I shouldn't," she said. "Ask things, or tell them, either. Because you'll get it all tangled up. But it'd be hard not asking, or not warning people. Especially if you care about them. Which just makes it worse."

So ... that was a helpful answer, there.

Talk to the TA [1/27]

[sith_happened]

Hello, TA!

Re: Talk to the TA [1/27]

[hotmugofstfu.livejournal.com]

Blackagar had done radio with Deadpool, thank you. He'd just learned to ignore any rambling about his future.

Worst radio ever that night. Ever.

Talk to Anakin [1/27]

[sith_happened]

It's what he gets paid to do.

OOC

[sith_happened]

Power, don't leave me again!

Re: OOC

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Oh look, Peter went off on a tangent...

Anyhow! I just wanted to make an official note that you are always welcome to give Peter detention whenever the need hits you/Anakin.